Zenki

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Zenki is one of the main characters from the Kishin Douji Zenki series. He is a Demon God with black and red hair, red eyes, very detailed armor and a tiara with a third eye on it. He has pointy ears and his trademark fang is on the left side.

Zenki is one of Chiaki Enno's guardian deities. He has a wild and untamed nature, loving his freedom and exhibiting his free will. Zenki is generally free from moral wrong and will not bother himself with humans unless they provoke him.

He is also known as the God of Crimson Thunder Light in the Dark, of Fighting and War. He is a guardian deity of Shikigami-chou and the Enno legacy.

Zenki is also known for his funny, snarky comments, which often have him stating the obvious when the other characters fail to see the wood for the trees and generally has a big ego that expands and shrinks just as his own size.

He is true to himself, but his way of saying his opinion right out in the open often gets him into fights with Chiaki and Miki Souma, the latter of which he sometimes calls a "bozo" (clown) instead of a "bonze" (monk).

The manga sometimes refers to Zenki as the Red Lord or just "Red". Though this mainly happens when he meets elders or talks to Vasara and Goki in the later volumes of the manga.

Zenki is one of the two divines (the other one being Goki), who faithfully served Ozunu Enno in the past.

Zenki's descent and his first meeting with Ozunu
A thousand years ago, humanity was in great danger at the hand of the forces of evil, the red demon Zenki descended to earth as a thunderbolt to save us.

At this point Zenki was just an ordinary demon like any other. Despite this, he set out to face the Ryuuma-ou-Mikado (the Evil Dragon King of Hell) all on his own in an attempt show the humans his greatness by freeing a district of Japan from the terror of the dragon and his armies.

Yet, when the wild and untamed Zenki faced the dragon, Zenki was outmatched by his foe and faced a devastating defeat.

Zenki was injured too badly to keep on fighting, but he was determined and didn't want to give up. He just sat there, next to the ruins of a building, berating himself on his own failure and cursing.

Luckily, this was when Ozunu Enno, Vasara and Goki came along and decided to aid Zenki in his battle against Ryuuma-ou-Mikado and his armies.

This moment in time marked their first meeting.

While Zenki was forced to rest, Ozunu, Vasara and Goki faced the dragon and his armies. After a long and tiring battle, Ozunu managed to seal Ryuuma-ou-Mikado and free Japan from the dragon's terror.

His armies retreated shortly after.

The four heroes were praised for their great deed, but Zenki never really got over the loss he had faced against the dragon and wanted to keep fighting.

Ozunu saw Zenki's fighting spirit and decided to offer Zenki to join him. Zenki willingly agreed, seeing how he would be allowed to unleash his wrath upon the ones, who deserved it.

At some point in time they met Karuma, which led to Zenki declaring his newfound love for eating Hyouinomi. Whenever a Hyouijuu met its end at Zenki's hands, it left behind those eye-like fruits.

Ozunu saw that Zenki was without moral wrong and would only use his wrath against the evils, so he decided to give him the powers of the Diamond Horn and the holy light of Vajura. This increased Zenki's strengh and made him a Demon God with the elemental powers of fire and thunder.

Zenki took great pride in Ozunu's gift and soon enough Zenki declared himself as the "great Zenki-Sama".

Ozunu saw great potential in Zenki's love for fighting evils and eating Hyouinomi and thus decided just to go with it.

The Past
But once all evils were defeated, Zenki just couldn't sit still.

Zenki not only wanted to keep on going and he also had become addicted to Hyouinomi, as he now starving from the lack of them.

Being the wise man he was, Ozunu saw this and decided that he would have to seal Zenki away to protect him from getting himself into trouble. Ozunu was too old and too tired and as no one else could protect Zenki from harm - Goki had returned to his Shugenja to lead them - the great Bodhisattva had no other choice.

Unfortunately Ozunu made a grave mistake while doing this as he seemingly didn't tell Zenki why he was going to be sealed.

The Present
One thousand years later, Chiaki Enno, a decendant of the great Ozunu, was helping a few customers. At some point, they heard a strange noise and went to investigate. When Chiaki followed them, she found them, but they had been turned into golden statues. It was the Hyouijuu Sairousaiko, which now turned its attention towards Chiaki.

Chiaki thought that everything was over, but then she remembered what her grandmother Saki had taught her and used the Bracelet of Protection, to unseal the Enno's guardian god, Zenki.

After defeating the monster, Chiaki cheered on Zenki, but when Chiaki caught his attention, he immediately drew the line.

This girl was his new master and Zenki held a deep grudge against his old master for sealing him away, so his new master had to act as a substitue and outlet for Zenki's still boiling wrath and thirst for revenge.

Zenki had been sealed away without any explanation, so it's quite understandable, he'd be furious. Just seeing Chiaki just made Zenki so mad that he wanted to kill her and he exclaimed exactly that and charged at Chiaki.

Chiaki was innocent and didn't know that Zenki would react like this. She was afraid and thought that Zenki was a monster, that was going to kill her out of sheer malice instead of seeing him for who he really is. She wanted to seal him again in self defense and who could blame her? After all, she didn't have a chance to talk to him and ask him why he acts like this.

The first meeting between Zenki and Chiaki ends with Zenki being turned into a Chibi. He feels hurt and helpless as Chiaki and Ozunu seemingly make fun of him.

Zenki's relationship towards Chiaki
Later on, Chiaki still doesn't bother to ask Zenki why he acted the way he did and instead always berates him on this event where he tried to kill her. She also makes things worse as she constantly tries to make Zenki obey her and behave against his will instead of just letting him be.

This leads to them constantly fighting over trivial matters and Zenki never opening up to Chiaki as in his opinion she's just a stupid woman that wants to use him to show off. Being too young and inexperienced to notice this, Chiaki just thinks that Zenki is constantly grumpy and thus reacts accordingly.

While their relationship gets better over the course of the series, Zenki never overcomes his grudge against the Ennos and while Chiaki does care about him, she only cares about him like one would care about a little brother. Occasionally she even goes as far as throwing Zenki right out of the window or kicking him out of the Enno Shrine.

Again, this is neither Zenki's nor Chiaki's fault, but just a big misunderstanding. Zenki and Chiaki never get beyond the point of being like two siblings, constantly nagging and teasing each other.

While Zenki soon notices that he's dependant on Chiaki, he still wants to regain his freedom. Even later in the series, when Chiaki, Akira and Zenki face a trial by Ozunu to test their loyalty towards each other in Volume 9, it results in Zenki wanting his freedom, while Akira wants to save Chiaki. In the end both Zenki and Akira decide to send their energies to save Chiaki, eventhough for different reasons.

Afterwards, Zenki just brags about his strength again.

While Zenki usually thinks before acting in his Chibi form, things go quite different for his Demon God form or true form, where he becomes reckless and just loves to show off.

This often gets him into trouble, which would have gotten him killed more than just once if it wasn't for Chiaki and Goki helping him out by distracting foes or lending their powers to Zenki.

Despite his tendency to show off, the world needs Zenki's badass, his supreme power and above all, his unconquerable spirit.

After all, he's a mighty and proud guardian warrior.

Zenki and the Hyouinomi


While Zenki's addiction towards Hyouinomi has been mentioned earlier, he obviously still loves them after being brought back by Chiaki.

Interestingly we also learn that by eating them, Zenki doesn't only purify the Hyouinomi's evil miasma, he also recovers his health. When talking to Master Daisoujou in Volume 4 of the manga, Zenki is very proud of his purifying abilities to the point of mocking Miki Souma with it.

Zenki's way of purifying the Hyouinomi is rather contrary to Kokutei and Majura who use their powers for their own gain.

Anime/Manga
While in the manga, Zenki starts out residing in a holy sepulcher inside the Main Hall of the Enno Shrine, in the Anime, the sepulcher is located outside.

Nekomaru and Inumaru break the seal on a Hyouinomi and in turn get transformed into a two headed monster. As the monster attacks Chiaki and her grandmother Saki, Chiaki calls out for help and her Bracelet of Protection unseals Zenki, who then proceeds to fight the monster.

Ingame
He appears in all of the Kishin Douji Zenki games, as he is the titular character. In most of these games, the player takes control of either Zenki, Chiaki or even both of them.

Oddly enough, the games only feature Zenki's Chibi form and his Demon God form. His other forms are completely absent. The same goes for Goki, who strangely only appears in his level 1 stage, but never shows up in his later forms or as Akira.

Voice actors

 * In the English dub, Chibi Zenki shares his voice with Guren. Both of them are voiced by Peter Doyle.

Official names

 * In Japanese, his name is spelled as 前鬼 or ゼンキ (Zenki). While the instances, where Ozunu Enno talks about him have Ozunu referring to Zenki by the Kanji-spelling of his name (前鬼), Chiaki refers to Zenki by the Katakana-spelling of his name (ゼンキ). This might be a reference to Ozunu's respectful attitude towards his servants and Chiaki's child-like and inexperienced attitude towards Zenki at the beginning of the series.
 * Chiaki is overenjoyed, when she first hears that will soon be the master of her own demon god. (this is both the case when Saki tells her about this in the manga and when Ozunu tells her in Tenchi Meidou)
 * In Chinese, his name is spelled as 前鬼 (Qián guǐ). While the Kanji-spelling is the same as the Japanese one, the pronounciation of his name is different when spoken in the Chinese tongue.
 * Amusingly, Zenki's name translates to the "Before Demon" or "Before the ghosts", while Goki's name translates to the "After Demon" or "After the ghosts". This cofirms a common pun, that has been carried over from the Japanese to the Chinese version, but has been lost in all non-Asian speaking versions.
 * The pun itself is related to how Zenki is the demon god, who steps forward and an offense oriented fighter, while Goki is the demon god, who takes a step back and is a defense oriented fighter. Thus Zenki strikes before his enemy, while Goki comes afterwards to support his comrade.

Chibi Zenki

 * The Furigana and Kanji writings of this form are チビゼンキ and チビ前鬼 respectively.
 * チビ or ちび (Chibi) means "little", though it is commonly used in its Romaji version as "Chibi". This is regardless of the currently spoken or written language.
 * Due to this Zenki's Chibi form is always called Chibi Zenki

The proper translation and explanations

 * In the original, Japanese manga and the anime, Zenki's second form is called Kishin Zenki, which most accurately translates as Demon God Zenki.
 * The Furigana and Kanji writings of this form are きしんゼンキ and 鬼神前鬼 respectively.
 * きしん or 鬼神 (Kishin) means "demon god" and ゼンキ or 前鬼 is simply Zenki's name.

Kanzen Kishin Zenki

 * This is the form, that Zenki turns into when he fuses with Goki and Chiaki in the anime and the manga.
 * While in the manga, this form is white, the anime features him sporting a mixture of a golden and white colors.
 * Note, that this form's name is only mentioned in the Japanese version of the anime and has no official, English translation.
 * 完全 鬼神 前鬼 (Kanzen Kishin Zenki) means "Perfect Demon God Zenki"
 * It was formerly also in-officially referred to as the "Rudra Fusion Soul", due to the aforementioned fusion of Zenki and his friends and Zenki being in a constant state of Rudra and becomes the personification of Vajra (aka "the holy light") when he is in this form

Mistranslations

 * The anime dubs and subs commonly call this form Guardian Spirit Zenki, which is likely due to the nineties religious themes issue

The proper translation and explanations

 * In the original, Japanese manga and the anime, Zenki's third form is called Cho Kishin Zenki, which most accurately translates as Great Demon God Zenki.
 * The Furigana and Kanji writings of this form are ちょぅきしんゼンキ and 超鬼神前鬼 respectively.
 * ちょぅ or 超 (Cho) most accurately translates as "great", though it can also be translated as various synonyms of "great".

Mistranslations

 * The anime dubs and subs commonly call this form Ultimate Guardian Zenki, which is likely due to the nineties religious themes issue
 * Some translations also call this form the Vajura Demon Lord Zenki or Demon Lord Zenki, neither of which are correct, as there's on Vajura in the original name and, while Demon Lord Zenki could substitute as a translation of his second form's name, it doesn't fit for this one

Alternate translations

 * More accurate translations call him Ultimate Demon God Zenki. This translation isn't wrong like the one from the dubs and subs, it simply uses "ultimate" as a translation for "Cho", which isn't as accurate as "great", but might still count as an okay translation

The proper translation and explanations

 * In the original, Japanese manga, Zenki's fourth and manga-exclusive form is called Tou Kishin Zenki, which most accurately translates as Battle Demon God Zenki.
 * The Furigana and Kanji writings of this form are とうきしんゼンキ and 闘鬼神前鬼 respectively.
 * とう or 闘 (Tou) most accurately translates as "battle", though it can also be translated as "competition" or "fighting".

Alternate translations

 * This form might also be alternatively referred to as Competition Demon God Zenki or Fighting Demon God Zenki, which are both correct as well (see the section above)
 * This variation in translation stems from "Tou" being commonly used alongside other Kanji or Furigana and not as a standalone


 * -|Rudra and Zenki's strength=

Anime
If he wants to, Zenki can be really powerful. This can be seen best in Episode 17, where he uses his most powerful move, the Rudra (thunder). It deserts a whole forest and leaves a huge crater, but also is a double edged sword. Rudra is so powerful, that it mortally wounds Zenki if he uses it, because he can't control Rudra's power.

The Diamond Axe is Rudra's physical form, which Zenki can use without getting hurt. Having the Diamond Axe is good for Zenki, because he really hates using Rudra, as he always gambles his life by using this move and might die from it.

Manga
Zenki's pride, his great strength of a Demon God, provided by the holy Vajura powers stored in Zenki's Diamond Horns is said to having been given to him by Ozunu.

The fact that his powers come from his horns also explains why Zenki can't fight when he loses them. He is reduced to a regular demon, a being just slightly stronger than a human, making his only advantage his near immortality.

This can be seen best when he fights Majura in Volume 2 of the manga. After loosing his horns, Zenki isn't as tough as he would like to be.

He only regains his strength when Chiaki regains consciousness and he is forced to team up with her. Zenki learns that he has to rely on Chiaki, yet he obviously hates to be dependant on his master.

The truth is that if Zenki killed Chiaki, he would end up involuntarily stripping himself of his Demon God form and powers. As the holy Vajura is passed from one generation of the Ennos to the next, it would be a similar situation to loosing his horns in the fight against Majura, only way worse.

Zenki would be forced to wander the world as a Chibi forever. He would be free, but not the way he wanted to be.

Ingame
Zenki can use the Rudra in all of his SNES games. It is a very powerful attack, just like in the anime. Most of the time, he will screem "Rudora!" when using this move.

Battle Raiden
In Battle Raiden, Rudra uses up 1/6th of Zenki's health and a Rudra protection scroll, but fills up the entire screen and destroys most normal enemies in one hit. It also deals about 1/4th of the mini bosses and bosses health of damage.

It is also notable, that Princess Ryuuki (also known as Anjura or the Dark Curse Bearer) is excluded from this, as she's weak to Rudra and dies in two to three hits from it. This might be a reference to her appearance in the manga, where Zenki uses the Rudra as a last resort against her, which instantly kills her.

Den Ei Rai Bu
In Den Ei Rai Bu, Rudra is Zenki's strongest attack. It can be only used in the anime seqence battles, if the power bar is full and Zenki has the green tear/advantage. If Rudra hits the foe head on, it takes him/her from a full health bar into the low, red range of their health and knocks them down.

If the player is fast enough, Zenki might score another free hit on his foe, while the enemy is still getting up and unable to counter Zenki's attack. If the player has very lucky timing and enough health, another Rudra might follow the previous one.

Tenchi Meidou
In Tenchi Meidou, Rudra is again Zenki's strongest attack. It can only be used if Zenki uses four light elemental attack cards (his favorite element) and deals great damage to his opponent.

Unlike its incarnation from other installments in the series, the Rudra from Tenchi Meidou only harms Zenki's foes. Zenki can use Rudra anytime and as many times he wants in Battle Mode without losing any health by utilizing it.

Kishin Douji Zenki (Game Gear)
Just as usual Zenki can only use Rudra in his Demon God form in Kishin Douji Zenki for the Game Gear, but unlike in the other games it has a huge drawback. While Rudra oneshots Zenki's foe, it kills Zenki as well. This is an especially heavy blow as the player can't revive Zenki until they meet Goki.

There's also a scripted sequence, which forces Zenki to use Rudra in his boss battle against Hiki the Black Tortoise. Once Goki has revived Zenki, the Raigeka is replaced by the Diamond Axe, allowing Zenki to use both Rudra and the Diamond Axe just like in Tenchi Meidou.

Vajura Fight
While Rudra can be used in Vajura Fight for the NEC PC-FX, it's use is limited. It can only be used when Zenki collects the Bracelet of Protection while being is in his Demon God form and can't be used freely like in the other games. Once Demon God Zenki collects the bracelet, he instantly performs Rudra. While he recovers his health instead losing it, this makes things rather unfortunate.

It is unknown why this is the case, but it could be speculated as this is an arcade style game, using Rudra whenever the player wanted to, even if it was one time only until getting the next bracelet as Demon God Zenki, it would simply make Zenki too powerful.

In general
Zenki can only use the Rudra in his Demon God, Great Demon God and Fighting Demon God forms. It is unknown if Zenki can also use Rudra in his Pentagram form, as Pentagram Zenki only appears in a single chapter and he never uses Rudra in this form.

In his Chibi form, most of his abilities are sealed away, making him much weaker than his true self, which is stated to be his Demon God form.

This can be seen in both the anime and the manga where Chibi Zenki sleeps on the rooftop. It is too cold outside, so he goes inside and ends up sleeping in Chiaki's bed where it is warmer. When Chiaki wakes up on the next morning, she notices a weird, huge budge in her blanket and checks it out. She finds sleeping Chibi Zenki and mistakes him for a pervert.

In the manga (Volume 1), she beats him up and screams at him. Zenki wakes up and wonders what happened to him. He doesn't understand why Chiaki hit him and proceeds to kick her, sending her out of the door in return. Obviously, this doesn't make things any better, as an angry Chiaki now comes back and hits the terrified Chibi in the head.

In the anime, Chiaki flings Chibi Zenki out of the window like a doll without him waking up or noticing anything.
 * -|Zenki's Moves =

Raigeka (Crushing Thunder)
Zenki's Raigeka is a move which has Zenki charging up his fist with lightning/thunder and release a devastating thunder punch. This thunder punch not only has the power to send a even heavy and armored foes flying, it also generates a small, elecrical shield, that protects Zenki for the duration of a few seconds.

Raigeka only appears in two of the Kishin Douji Zenki games (Kishin Douji Zenki - Battle Raiden for the SNES and Kishin Douji Zenki for the Sega Game Gear), the manga and Kishin Douji Zenki Gaiden: Anki Kitan (the OVA).

While the Dynamics Design translation of Battle Raiden calls the move Thunder Smash, a more accurate translation of the Kanji-writing of 雷撃破 (らいげか) would be Crushing Thunder.

Regardless of the game's version, Zenki always yells "Raigeka!" when this move.

Kishin Douji Zenki - Battle Raiden
The screenshots shown above are from Chiaki's Tutorial, where she explains the controls. Only Demon God Zenki can use the Raigeka ingame.

Kishin Douji Zenki Gaiden: Anki Kitan
The screenshots shown above show Great Demon God Zenki using the Raigeka in his fight against Kagura, the titular Anki Kitan.

Trivia

 * Raigeka is commonly misspelled as Reigeka.
 * Raigeka comes from Raiden, which means "thunder". The whole thing with Raiden and Rudra is like lightning and thunderbolt, with two words having the same meaning.

Reppuu Ryu (Gale Dragon)


Zenki's Reppuu Ryu is a move which has Zenki kneeling down and creating a strong gust of wind while rising from the ground. This move enables Zenki to block fire attacks by blowing them away.

It became especially useful when Zenki fought Kajura in the manga and Battle Raiden, where Zenki needs to use Reppuu Ryu to blow out his foe's flame armor like a candle, as Kajura can't be hurt otherwise. Once Zenki blew away Kajura's armor, the latter became defenseless and Zenki took him down with ease.

In Battle Raiden, the gust of wind raises up to the ceiling, enabling Zenki to even hit foes that can otherwise only be hit with Rudra, which would usually waste his strength.

Reppuu Ryu behaves differently in the game Kishin Douji Zenki, where Zenki creates small whirlwinds which move away from him, catching unsuspecting enemies off guard and dealing little damage. The little damage is balaced out by the fact that the foe is unable to perform any actions while being caught in the whirlwind, which stuns it longer than any other move.

Reppuu Ryu only appears in two of the Kishin Douji Zenki games (Kishin Douji Zenki - Battle Raiden for the SNES and Kishin Douji Zenki for the Sega Game Gear) and the manga.

The Dynamics Design translation of Battle Raiden calls the move Gale Dragon, which is an accurate translation of the Kanji-writing of 烈風竜 (れっぷう りゅう).

Regardless of the game's version, Zenki always yells "Reppuu Ryu!" when this move.

Kishin Douji Zenki - Battle Raiden
More moves, screenshots and information will be added soon...


 * -|Zenki's Subpages =

Subpages

 * Zenki's GalleryChibi Zenki 06 057.png
 * Visit this subpage if you want to view more images of Zenki-Sama!
 * It features various images from the Kishin Douji Zenki anime, manga and the games!
 * Zenki's FormsChibi Zenki anime 3 new.png
 * Visit this subpage if you want to know more about Zenki's various forms!
 * Learn about the differences between Zenki's forms from the anime and the manga! The section also features his manga exclusive forms!
 * Zenki's ingame appearancesKishin Zenki breathing.gif
 * Visit this subpage if you want to know more about Zenki's ingame appearances!
 * Learn about Zenki's various moves and the development of his personality!
 * The ancient ZenkiRyuuma-ou-Mikado manga 2.png
 * Visit this subpage if you want to learn about Zenki's ancient self fighting alongside Ozunu, Goki and Vasara in their battle against the Evil Dragon King of Hell!
 * Zenki's in battle statsKishin Zenki official rerelease art.png
 * Visit this subpage if you want to learn about his detailed in battle stats.

In battle stats Notes

 * Zenki's in battle stats are heavily based on his manga incarnation, though they also take his other incarnations' abilities into consideration, intending to give an as precise as possible documentation, specially balanced with the best of his abilities for the purpose of showing off his maximum in battle performance.


 * -|Voice actors=

This section is about the voice actors, that lend their voice to Zenki in the Kishin Douji Zenki anime.

Currently, the known voice actors represent the Japanese, English, Spanish and Filipino cast.

Note, that Zenki's Japanese voice actors also speak his lines in the series' video games.

If you know about Zenki's voice actors from other languages, please inform an admin, so that they can add the language to the template and by extension the voice actors to this section, so that they will be properly credited for their work.

The next tabber section, Samples, features voice acting samples from the original, Japanese version of the anime. Feel free to contact an admin, if you want to make requests regarding the Samples section.

Roles (Volume 6)




At the end of Volume 6, there is also a subsection featuring "roles". These roles aren't roles of the characters themselves, but their Japanese voice actors from the anime.

For Chibi Zenki, his voice actor is depicted via the Kanji and Furigana writings of 山口勝平 and やまぐち かっぺい. Both of them transliterate as "Yamaguchi Kappei", which is Kappei Yamaguchi's name written in the Japanese naming order.

For Demon God Zenki, his voice actor is depicted via the Kanji and Furigana writings of 小杉十郎太 and こすぎ じゆう ろうた. Both of them transliterate as "Kosugi Jurota", which is Jurota Kosugi's name written in the Japanese naming order.


 * -|Samples=

Voice acting


Chiaki: ""I release the Demon God's binding curse! Cut through the seal with the secret blade! Break the curse! Vajura-On-Ark! Show yourself! It's time, Zenki!"

Chibi Zenki: "Ngh! Bwaaaaagaaaaahhhhh! Raaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! Greyaaaaaaghhhh!"

Chiaki: "Break the curse! Vajura-On-Ark! Show yourself! It's time, Zenki!"

Demon God Zenki: "Demon God Zenki... Here I am."



Chiaki: "The Great Demon God Zenki! Vajura, Mahar... Samaskara!"

Goki: "Arrive, Five Greats!" (unconfirmed)

Zenki: "Nuuuuuaaaaaarrrrrghhhhh!!! Heyaaaaaaaarrrrghhhh! Rajas! Great Demon God Zenki! Let's celebrate my arrival!"



Demon God Zenki: "Demon God Zenki... Here I am!"

Zenki 前鬼 (ゼンキ)